


Conversations in Circles

by completelyhopeless



Series: Detective Grayson and Forensic Batgirl [10]
Category: DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Case Fic, F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 12:26:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3173716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/completelyhopeless/pseuds/completelyhopeless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barbara, Dick, and Jason try to get answers from their "witness." It doesn't go well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conversations in Circles

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I wasn't going there with this, but I did.

* * *

“What are you doing?” Barbara asked, looking up from Maroni's notebook as Jason shoved the magazine back in his gun with an audible click.

“Relax, Red. I am just checking the perimeter. Someone has to keep us safe.”

She rolled her eyes as he walked away. As far as she was concerned, that person was still her. She'd had to keep Jason from doing something stupid, rescue Dick, and watch over their little assassin. None of them was all that good at taking care of their own lives. Jason was the worst, taking stupid risks and going off in reckless rages, but the boy seemed to be little better, snarling and attempting to attack everyone but Dick as soon as he came around. She'd had to sedate him three times so far, and she was not that kind of doctor. 

They needed a better plan.

Dick needed to wake up, even though she knew he wasn't in any state to move or help end this thing. He needed to heal, but she wasn't sure how much time she could give him. She'd called her father. Kowlinski was still being an idiot, but her dad had him contained, and he'd been relieved to hear that her end of it was done—she'd found Dick and more leads.

Trouble was, the book didn't help much, and they couldn't stay at Alfred's shelter forever. “Since when does Maroni know code?”

“Don't know that he does. I think it's more of him being a front guy for whatever this is,” Dick answered, eyes only half open. She could tell he was feeling every bit of his wounds, and she didn't know how long he could manage that pain and remain conscious. They'd gone through most of Alfred's drugs already. He didn't keep more than the bare minimum here, not that she could blame him. If he had more, his shelter would have been a target and the people he wanted to help would be helping themselves to his supplies. “Babs...”

She rose, going over to his side. “That wasn't a question for you. I told you to rest.”

“You did. I tried. I just... Don't sleep well.”

“I noticed,” she muttered, because even when he passed out he seemed to have some kind of nightmare. They made Jason tense, and he'd clench his jaw or clean his gun while Dick rode out whatever it was.

Dick tried to sit up. “Maroni was down. He shouldn't have... couldn't have...”

She pushed him back down and put a hand on his undamaged cheek. “Stay calm. You got hurt. You can't fix everything right this instant, and you obsessing over where Maroni is and how he got away is not going to help. You can't do all of this alone. If you hadn't tried, maybe you wouldn't have gotten caught and almost killed.”

He shook his head. “Maroni has had years to come after me again. Doesn't make sense. This... can't be... about me.”

“You found him,” Barbara reminded him. “The car, the prostitutes that he was having executed, Kowlinksi and Tim's pictures, your own past, you connected them and you knew who you were after and why. I don't think he planned on anyone figuring out or caring what went on in that slum where you were found. No one cares about Crime Alley.”

“He's wrong.”

“I know.”

“There are... still... so many pieces missing,” Dick said, shifting onto his side. “I didn't get answers. I got more holes.”

“I think we have some. We just need to find a way to keep the little demon calm enough to ask him a few questions,” Barbara said, looking at the boy on the other cot. “He tries to fight us every time he's awake. I can't get through to him. Jason just fights back.”

Dick let out a breath. “I can try.”

“You need to rest.”

“No. I really don't want to go back to that,” Dick said, gagging. “I don't need to see my parents dead again or have Maroni in my ear or feel like I'm in that cage he kept me in. I just... Let me try talking to the kid. Alfred and Bruce couldn't reach Jason, but I did. I might be able to get through to this one, too.”

“Dick—”

“He took me down to treat my injuries after I took Maroni down the first time. I don't know why, but he did. He doesn't want me dead.”

She looked at the kid again. “I hope you're right about that.”

* * *

“Here, take this,” Jason said, holding out his hand and when Dick reached up, two pills fell into his palm. He gave Jason a look and the other man rolled his eyes, shoving a paper cup of water at him. “Look, you need something for the pain. Take it so you can deal already.”

Dick couldn't deny that, much as he wanted to, and if he was going to stay awake to ask the kid any questions the next time the sedatives wore off, he needed something to stave off his own pain. He didn't like taking pills, but he needed them. No choice, really.

Barbara frowned. “Where did you get them? I checked Alfred's supplies. The aspirin and ibuprofen and acetaminophen were all empty.”

Dick choked on the pills he'd just swallowed, finishing the rest of the water. “What did you just give me?”

Jason grinned. Barbara glared at him, and Dick shook his head. He shouldn't have trusted Jason, but he did. That was part of their problem. And at the same time, it wasn't.

The kid made some kind of noise, and Dick figured he was starting to wake up this time. He needed to get close to him and make him focus on him first. He was the only one here that wasn't a stranger, and that was the closest thing they had to common ground.

Dick slid off his cot and started toward the other one, but he almost fell before he got a step taken. Jason caught him, and he tried to ignore all the new aches that came with that.

“Easy,” Jason said as he braced him. “Should have given you one, not two. Forgot what a pathetic lightweight you are.”

“By choice,” Dick reminded him. “No way I was turning into Bruce.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Jason muttered, walking him over to the kid's cot. “You sure you want to do this? He might kill you when he wakes up.”

“You wouldn't miss me.”

“No, but she might.”

Dick smiled, letting himself lean on Jason for another minute before trying to sit on his own. He liked the idea of Babs missing him. Not that he planned on dying and leaving her, but he still liked it because he liked the idea of her caring about him.

“You.”

He turned to face the kid. “Morning. How are you feeling?”

“It's not morning,” the kid said. “And you drugged me. You'll die for that.”

Dick laughed. “That would actually be a bit of a relief. Or maybe that's just the painkillers talking. You're kind of funny, kid. Now, we would all really like to know what you were doing with Maroni back there and if you're the one that killed all those women.”

“The harlots?”

“I'm taking that as a yes,” Barbara muttered, and Dick saw her fold her arms over her chest in anger. “You didn't even see them as people, did you?”

“Babs,” Dick said, holding up a hand to get her to stop for a moment. He addressed the boy. “Did Maroni order you to kill them or did you choose to?”

The kid snorted. “Those targets were beneath me. My skills are wasted on harlots.”

“Right.”

Dick put a hand to his head and let out a breath. “Do you know where Maroni has the other kid he was training, then?”

“It does not matter. That one is a failure and will be dealt with.”

Jason put a gun next to the kid's head. “Look, brat, you might not have killed those girls, but you're asking for one of these. If you don't want it, then tell us where Maroni has his latest project and where we can find the people you work for. If not—”

“You won't shoot me.”

“Actually,” Dick said. “Jason would. Barbara and I wouldn't, but you're not dealing with us, and I know I couldn't move in time to stop him, so I'd answer the question before he gives into that urge because I'm only so good at talking him down.”

“You wouldn't waste my talent.”

“Kid, we got no use for a little killer like you,” Jason said, laughing. “The role of insane killer in the room is already filled. That's me. And it can be Dick, though he tries not to let it be. You're not needed or wanted. Make yourself useful. Quick.”

“Jason—”

“No.”

“Hold off on killing the kid for a second because I'm going to fall off this cot,” Dick told him, and Jason rolled his eyes as he put the safety on, coming around to grab Dick before he fell. Dick took a couple breaths, trying to hold onto something close to consciousness. “Really should have warned me about those pills.”

“Yeah, well, that wouldn't have done anything for me, not even dull the pain, so I wasn't exactly thinking it would take you down like a damn brick.”

Dick shrugged. “Might not even be the drugs.”

“That's not any better.”

* * *

“Quit making that noise, Red. I know you're pissed.”

“Quit calling me 'red,'” Barbara said, not looking over at Jason as she flipped through the pages of Maroni's notebook. If she scanned them into her computer, she might be able to create a program that would look for the patterns and break the code. She could also take some samples off of the boy and get them to tell her where he came from since he still wasn't talking. Dick had gotten through to him for a few minutes, but it wasn't enough, and she didn't know how long Dick would be out this time thanks to the drugs that Jason had given him.

“He needed something for the pain.”

“He also needed to be conscious,” Barbara muttered. “You already said this notebook makes no sense to you, all of your interactions with our... friend over there end in violence, and Dick is the only one that knows what happened with Maroni besides the kid. He needs to be awake.”

“Because you don't trust anyone here but him and you want to get back to your lab to run tests but can't if you don't have someone to watch over us,” Jason added, and she gave him a thin smile for that bit of perception.

“We do not need watching.”

“Says the kid who tries to kill everyone and won't tell us anything, not even a name,” Jason said. He looked at his gun. “You're fortunate I like Dick enough to hold off on killing you.”

“Grayson is a fool.”

Barbara found herself smiling as Jason spoke. “I think that's one thing everyone in this room agrees with, but for some reason, we either like that about him or put up with him in spite of it. Not sure. I think she's in love with him. He's the only one who gave a damn about me. You, though... What is it about him that makes you so willing to listen to him over anyone else?”

“I am not in love with Dick,” Barbara said. She ignored Jason as she crossed over to where the kid was sitting. “Do you know what's in this book?”

“Never seen it before. Maroni should have been killed for keeping such a book.”

“Yeah, so why isn't he dead?” Jason asked, arms over his chest. “You had your chance, from what Dick said. How'd he end up walking away?”

“I do not know.”

“Liar.”

“I will cut you—”

“Enough,” Barbara said, annoyed at having to intervene _again_ with them. She should not have to be the referee, shouldn't constantly be trying to keep the peace. She needed to work, not babysit. “You are the only one we can ask about these things, and you haven't been very cooperative. If you were, you wouldn't have to fight with Jason, and remember, we only have your word that you didn't kill those women. You're the best suspect we have, and other cops in the department would already have arrested you and thrown away the key.”

“You suggest that I owe Grayson.”

“You do, kid. I already told you that,” Jason said, and the boy looked at him with scorn. “You know what, I am starting not to care what Dick thinks. I think I'll just shoot him.”

“Jason—”

“That kid let Maroni go. The guy behind hundreds of killings, the guy who turns kids into weapons, the one that killed Dick's parents—”

“Maroni did not kill Grayson's parents. He did.”

Barbara choked. “What?”

Jason shook his head. “No way.”

“That was when Maroni said he first noticed Grayson's potential. After he killed his parents.”

**Author's Note:**

> I need to go write something fluffy now.


End file.
